Into the Fire
by KoibitoAnime
Summary: "Every fear. Every nightmare she had ever had was coming true. The crippling pain entered her heart and took over every fiber of her being as she watched the flames overtake the building. She didn't want to get back up. She couldn't find a reason. Her reason was burning. Sousuke was burning with the building." DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FULL METAL PANIC


**A/N**: This story takes place right after _Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid_. I have not read the Manga so the information I have is all through the Anime and wiki.

Thank you for choosing my story to read. I appreciate any reviews because any criticism helps me improve this story and others. Thank you so much again! I hope you enjoy! More to come soon!

**FMP Notes**: I use the term 'Belial' to refer to Leonard Testarossa's Arm Slave seen in the episode 'Her Problem'

Responses include: A-1 = kill order; B-1 = capture alive; B-2 = capture dead or alive; (more may be added later depending on how the story progresses.)

….

INTO THE FIRE: Prologue

…. *Flash forward*

"SOUSUKEEEE!" Kaname screamed.

Every fear. Every nightmare she had ever had was coming true. The crippling pain entered her heart and took over every fiber of her being as she watched the flames overtake the building. There was a sudden wet cold feeling on her cheeks. Oh. They were tears. She was crying. The tears were violent and never-ending like the flames. The flames that were burning away at the building. The building that Sousuke was in. Sousuke... Sousuke... Sousuke was gone. Sousuke was in the building. Helpless. Alone. Like she felt.

Sousuke. Sousuke wasn't coming back. Sousuke wasn't going to save her.

She ran towards the building. Maybe there was a chance. Maybe she could save him. Maybe. Maybe. Any chance. She would take it.

_Sousuke. _She thought desperately.

The gust of hot winds and debris knocked her back. She felt nothing but pain. Not pain from the heat or burns, but from her heart. Her heart was broken. Every limb felt heavy and numb. She didn't want to get back up. She couldn't find a reason. Her reason was burning.

"Sousuke…" Kaname managed in a broken voice before she broke out into a sob.

"Belial. Response B-1. With Care. I don't want any harm to come of her." Kaname heard Leonard order.

Just seconds later, Kaname felt a cold metal hand pick her up. She was then thrown over its shoulder. She didn't struggle. What was the point? No one was coming for her.

Kaname open her eyes for a moment. The building was beginning to crumble from the overwhelming fire.

_Sousuke…_

"I'm sorry it came to this." Leonard said with sympathy. Kaname was just about to spout hateful words when she felt a pinch in her neck.

"Wha-?" She couldn't even finish before her eyes became so heavy that the darkness overtook her.

…. *Current*

It was about 2 months after Sousuke left Mithril,

Sousuke lied on the floor for hours, thinking, racking his brain trying to figure out what was going on. This wasn't the first time he had done this. Since his last fight for Mithril, he's mind has been at war with itself trying to understand his feelings. Time flew by as he went over the millions of thoughts and memories of Kaname. From the first time he saw her to feeling the horrible pain of thinking she was dead. Why did he feel so hopeless when Gauron told him Kaname was dead? Did he care for Kaname? Or was it his sense of duty?

Frustrated and confused he called the one person he trusted to talk about these kind of things, Kurz.

…..

That weekend, Kurz took some leave to meet with Sousuke since he pushed the urgency of the matter. Kurz knew it was important especially because Sousuke didn't exaggerate. Class had just ended when Kurz called to let him know he was headed out of the airport to his apartment.

"Rodger. I'll be there soon." Sousuke said before hanging up. Kaname was not far from him, just a few seats away talking to Kyoko, but when she heard the click of his phone, she turned. Nervously, Sousuke got up and collected his belongings, though it through Kaname off because he seemed awkward and anxious as he moved.

"Hey, Sousuke." Kaname called. Sousuke froze before looking up slowly.

"Yes, Ms. Chidori?" He asked formally. His curtness felt like a little stab in Kaname's heart. Did she do something wrong?

"Uh, I just wondered if you were okay? You seem nervous or something…" She asked worriedly.

"I appreciate your concern, but there's nothing out of the ordinary here." Sousuke replied.

"Alright, werido." Sousuke then turned to leave. Noticing this, Kaname reached out and grabbed for his hand, but he pulled away quickly before turning.

"Did you need something?" He said curtly.

"Uh, we have a study dat-.. session. Don't you remember?" Kaname said with a shy of red rising in her cheeks.

"I'll have to cancel. I'm sorry, Ms. Chidori, but if you'll excuse me I'll be late." With that he ran out of the room leaving Kaname completely confused and a little lonely.

A moment passed before Kyoko dared to speak.

"Kaname? Are you okay?"

It took her a moment to gather herself. "Y-Yea."

"Sousuke doesn't seem like himself today."

Kaname laughed nervously, "Are you kidding? Sousuke's always being weird. Did you want to come over to study for English since Sousuke just cancelled on me?"

"Well… I'm actually going to the mall with Shinji.."

"Shinji?! Since when have you been dating Shinji?"

"We're not! It's our first time and we're just hanging out.." Kyoko said embarrassed.

"Well if you have time, call me or stop by later and let me know how it went." Kaname said with a wink.

"What about you? Are you going to be okay?" Kyoko asked worried about her best friend.

"Oh me?" Kaname said collecting her stuff. "I'm great! I'm going to go home and relax by myself. I'm not even thinking about that jerk! Well see you later, Kyoko!" Kaname said in a too cheerful voice.

Before Kyoko could respond, Kaname was out the door.

"But I didn't even say anything about Sousuke..."

….

Sousuke arrived at his apartment to find Kurz hanging around in front of his door.

"What took you so long?"

"Sorry, I got distracted."

"You distracted? You never get distracted. The only thing or should I say person," Kurz teased, "that distracts you is…."

"Let's finish this conversation inside." Sousuke said cutting him off before quickly heading inside.

Kurz entered with a smug look on his face. He was already on the right track.

"Can I get you tea, coffee, or beer?"

"Where'd you get beer?"

"I didn't, I was just trying to be polite."

"Well don't tease me." Kurz said kiddingly. "Anyways, let's cut to the chaste. What do you need help with? It's obviously not military related."

Sousuke sighed. "No, its…" Sousuke tried to find the words. "well she.." He blushed.

"Ahhh… our young Sargent is in love!"

"That's not what I'm saying!" Sousuke said quickly, "I mean.." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not sure. I-I'm confused. I thought you'd be the best to talk to."

"You've come to the right place."

"Are you kidding?! Kurz is in love with any women he sees with a pair of breasts!" A familiar voice yelled.

Sousuke turned to see Major Mao coming down the hallway with a bag over her shoulder.

Sousuke jumped up, saluting her. "Major Mao, what brings you here?"

"At ease, I'm on vacation." Melissa answered "Anyways, I'm offended you called Kurz instead of me. I was the one who figured it was about Kaname, Kurz thought you wanted pointers on how to get laid."

"I did not!"

"You were thinking it!"

Kurz laughed, "Yea probably."

Mao rolled her eyes and muttered, "Perv…"

"Back to Sousuke here." Kurz countered.

Mao threw her bag to the side and joined them at the table. "Alright, what's the problem Sousuke?"

"I think he's confused about his feelings for Kaname is what you were getting to, right Sousuke?" Kurz replied for Sousuke

Sousuke nodded.

"Easy." Mao said. "Alright, I'm going to throw out a few questions for you and depending on your answers, we'll know. We've already seen countless times that you risk your life for Kaname."

"But what if that's my sense of duty? It's my mission to keep Kaname safe."

"You're an idiot. You've gone against orders at least twice to safe Kaname even though Mithril said screw her."

"But I abandoned her on an order which nearly got her killed."

"Let's forget that for a moment, okay? If you weren't in Mithril anymore, you're just a civilian, would you still risk your life to protect Kaname?"

"Yes." Sousuke answered immediately.

"You would give your life for her?"

"Any day." Sousuke answered firmly.

"What if Captain Testarossa herself called you saying she needs you back because Mithril's sources are spread thin due to the rise of a new terrorist group?"

"Does this group pose as any threat to Kaname?"

"No."

"I would politely tell her no. Last time I left Kaname alone even though she said there was no threat towards her, Kaname nearly died. I cannot leave her again."

"Because you're afraid she'll get hurt or worse?"

Sousuke nodded.

Mao turned to Kurz. He nodded.

"I think it's settled. You're head over heels for Kaname."

"He's whipped already and they're not even dating."

Mao smacked him. "Being whipped is _not _a bad thing! It just means he cares enough to listen until like assholes like you!"

Sousuke started to get lost in his thoughts as they fought. He loved Kaname. He did. When he thinks about how he felt when he was ordered not to talk to her, when he thought she was dead, or when she cried in his arms because of him, emotions from fury to hopelessness fill him.

Should he tell her? What if she doesn't feel the same?

Suddenly, his phone rang, cutting off his thoughts.

Mao and Kurz stopped fighting and turned to see who it was.

"It's Kaname." Sousuke announced.

….

As Kaname made her way home, she couldn't help but notice this feeling she was being watched. Maybe she was being paranoid? It hadn't been that long since that creepy chick tried to kill her. She shuttered at the thought of all the hell she went through.

Kaname finally made it home, but much later than usual because she tried to lose whoever was following her by making some circles. Locking the door, Kaname finally was able to relax a little, except that stupid nagging voice woke her fears again.

_If it's a terrorist, they may already know where she lives…_

_What if they were already in her apartment?_

_What did they want? _

_Where was Sousuke? _

Should she call Sousuke? He's not a part of Mithril so it's not his job to protect her, but would he still come? He didn't seem like he wanted anything to do with her earlier, so would he come running now? But he seemed busy so maybe she shouldn't bother him…

Kaname decided against it.

Finally feeling able to relax, Kaname changed into some PJs and made some tea. Walking over towards the couch she got distracted by the beautiful sunset through her sliding glass doors. The warm colors painted the sky in a beautiful melody of pinks and oranges. Its far away warmth slowly began to lift the anxious feeling from Kaname. Kaname sighed.

"I knew I was just making it up… Stupid. Stupid…" Kaname mumbled to herself.

But as fate would have it, Kaname happened to look down to the streets and there was a hooded figure staring right at Kaname.

Kaname froze. _Okay, anyone could be looking at this building.. _

But then she noticed the eyes weren't human. They were red. A bright red V instead of eyes that reminded her of a certain person's robots.

_No. He couldn't. Why was he here? _

As soon as she put the pieces together, Kaname ran to her room to grab her cell and called the most reliable idiot she knew.

…

Sousuke paused. Should he pick it up?

"Come on, Sousuke. Don't be a chicken. Pick it up." Kurz 'encouraged'.

"I have to agree with the bastard. It could be important." Mao added.

Sousuke reached for his phone, but paused again right before he got to it. Should I? But then he remembered Mao's point. What if she was in danger?

With that thought, Sousuke picked up the phone and answered within a split second.

"Sagara." He answered.

"Sousuke! Thank god! What took you so long?!"

"Well-" he started when she cut him off

"Never mind! Just hurry over, I need you."

Sousuke blushed.

"I think someone's been following me and there was this thing outside my apartment building…"

"I'll be there soon."

"Thank you…" Kaname said with relief. "Hurry.."

Sousuke snapped the phone shut and jumped up.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Mao asked

"Kaname said someone was following her earlier."

"What? We haven't had any intelligence of anyone that's interested in the Whispered or Kaname." Mao said.

"Well just to be safe, we should make a quick scan around the area and look for anything suspicious." Kurz suggested.

"Please do, I'll head over to Kaname's apartment to make sure she's alright." Sousuke added.

Mao and Kurz looked at each other with a smug look.

"What?" Sousuke asked.

"Nothing, just hurry over." Mao ordered.

Sousuke nodded before running out the door.

"He doesn't waste any time." Kurz said.

…

Sousuke made tracks as he ran towards Kaname's apartment. Dodging cars and people, he made it there in record timing.

He knocked on the door, "Kaname?"

Just seconds later, the door swung open. Kaname pulled him in then peaked her head out the door and checked both ways before finally closing and locking the door.

"Kaname, Are you-?"

She cut him off with a hug. "Thank god you're here."

Sousuke could hear his heart beating out of his chest. Being this close to Kaname made him a little nervous, but it also felt good. He relaxed and wrapped his arms around her which made her relax.

Sousuke wanted to know what was going on, but the need to keep Kaname in his arms was greater. He held her tighter as she enjoyed the warmth and comfort of being in Sousuke's arms.

…

Mao and Kurz met up in front of Kaname's apartment building.

"Find anything?" Mao asked.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Kurz reported.

"Same here."

"Maybe, Kaname's just paranoid?"

"Or someone was here. There are a few possibilities."

"Maybe, but we should discuss it inside."

"Good idea."

It was fairly silent between Kurz and Mao as they headed to Kaname's apartment. As they headed down the hall, Mao noticed a strange man. He was heading towards them with most of his face covered by a hoodie. Mao eyed him suspiciously, but didn't say anything until the he glanced towards them. He looked familiar, but Mao just couldn't remember from where.

"Sir." Mao called, but before she could catch up to him, he entered one of the apartments. "Hmm.."

"Who was that?" Kurz asked.

"I'm not sure, but he looked familiar." Mao pondered.

"Well if he isn't a friendly then it's not good that he lives just a few down from Kaname. That might not be a coincidence..."

…..

Sousuke wasn't sure how long they had stood there like that. It wasn't until another knock on the door that the moment was lost. The knock made Kaname tense in Sousuke's arms, but the familiar voice made her relax.

"Sousuke? Kaname? You in there?" Mao called.

"Mao?" Kaname asked.

"And Kurz. They took some leave to visit. They did a scan of the area." Sousuke informed.

With that he opened the door for them to enter. Once inside they all moved to the living area.

"I'm sorry I ruined your guys' night." Kaname said apologetically.

"Ruined? Seeing you always makes my day, beautiful." Kurz flirted.

"Ew." Kaname responded

Kurz put his hand on his heart. "I'm wounded."

"Oh whatever, keep it in your pants Weber. We have work to do."

"Tell us about what you saw." Sousuke asked Kaname.

"Well I just had this feeling I was being watched while I was walking home and I thought I was just being paranoid until I saw something watching me."

"Something?" Sousuke inquired.

"Yea. I recognized it from my run in with Tessa's brother, Leonard." Kaname said nervously.

"Wait, what? You've met Leonard?" Mao asked.

"Yea. The girl who terrorized Hong Kong, her sister was trying to kill me when Leonard killed her with his freaky robots."

"What robots?" Sousuke asked.

"He said he developed them and that they're the smallest arm slave. They looked really powerful and killed that creepy chick without even trying."

"Well hell. We didn't know any of this." Kurz said.

"So the thing that was watching you was one of Leonard's arm slaves?" Mao continued.

Kaname nodded.

"Those are probably the newest model, so they're smart. I'm sure as soon as Kaname noticed it, it ran for the hills. That's probably why we couldn't track it."

"Why would he be after Kaname?" Kurz wondered aloud.

Kaname blushed. _I hope it has nothing to do with his creepy crush on me. _

"We can assume he's worked for Amalgam as a mercenary." Sousuke put together.

Kaname shook her head. "If he wanted to kill me, he could have. He killed that creepy chick right in front of me and he could have killed me too. I was defenseless and alone."

"But he let you go?" Mao asked. "Then he's objective might not be to kill you. There's something else.."

Kaname nodded, "That's why I thought he worked with Mithril. I didn't think much of it afterwards."

"No. Leonard doesn't have any connections with Mithril. I don't even think Tessa knows what he's doing." Mao wondered. "We need to report to Tessa right away. She needs to know about this."

"So much for our vacation, this might just turn into a mission."

"Thank you for your help. I'm sorry for causing such problems." Kaname said.

"Anything for you babe." Kurz replied. Mao pushed him towards the door.

"As always, ignore him. It's no problem. We'll be back later after we set up communications and talk with Captain Testarossa."

"Affirmative." Sousuke responded.

Just a moment later the front door shut. Kaname followed behind so he could lock the door behind them.

Sousuke looked down at his hands. All of this. All of this was his fault. Gauron was the one who sent that girl to kill Kaname.

Kaname reentered the room to see Sousuke looking distraught. She crossed the room and took a seat next to him.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"It's all my fault. If something happens, it'll be my fault."

"What are you talking about, Sousuke?"

"The only reason that girl tried to kill you was because of me." Sousuke confessed.

"What?"

"Those girls were working for Gauron and he wanted to get back at me, so he had one sent to kill you. He wanted to show me a picture of your dead body so it would push me over the edge. He wanted me to kill him… And I fell right into his trap."

Kaname was silent for a second.

"He told me you were dead. That she had killed you and for a while I felt lost even more so then before."

A few moments passed before he continued.

"I know it's taken me a while, but I…" he paused, "I know now what it means."

"I-I.. uh.." he took a deep breath, "I-I care about you, Kaname."

The words hit Kaname's heart causing it to beat out of her chest. "Oh.. Sousuke… I-"

"Kaname, I understand if you don't feel the same, I-if you just want to be friends. It won't interfere with my duty to protect you."

Kaname was silent for a second. "Duty?"

"I-I uh.. I didn't mean-"

"THAT'S ALL I AM?! A DUTY?"

"N-no no no. O-O-Of course not. I-It's more than that. I just meant-"

"I WAS JUST GOING TO SAY THAT I CARE ABOUT YOU TOO, BUT NO! YOU HAD TO GO AND RUIN THE MOMENT BY SAYING THAT I'M JUST A DUTY! AM I REALLY THAT MUCH OF A PROBLEM FOR YOU SOUSUKE?"

"No! Not at all! I just meant if you wanted to be friends then I would still always protect you." Kaname's face relaxed from angry to understanding. "My feelings won't change, so no matter what, I'll protect you."

Kaname smiled, "Well, idiot, since you weren't paying attention, let me clarify. I care about you, " Kaname said with a blush, "so I'd love it if you stayed with me."

Sousuke smiled as true happiness flowed through him. He then leaned in. Kaname blushed after she caught on to what Sousuke was doing but with butterflies did the same. It was a little awkward at first, Sousuke's aim was a little off, but with some practice he'd catch on and it was just the first of many.


End file.
